Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Shareda) members will be going on the second leg of the study tour and project site visits to the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia from March 27-31.

Shareda President Datuk Susan Wong said the study tour covering Penang, Kedah, Perak, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur was in conjunction with the 10th Malaysian Developers' Council (MDC) meeting in Penang.

"This year, the proposed project sites to be visited by Shareda are projects belonging to members of REHDA Malaysia and Federation of International Real Estate (FIABCI) Malaysian Chapter," she said.

Among the various types of property developments that the 33-member delegation from Shareda would be visiting are Malaysian Property Award Winning Properties in 2008, Gated and Guarded Communities Housing and the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) Programme for retirees and foreign investors.

She said the members would be given a better insight on the country's award winning properties since residential developments in Sabah have yet to win the prestigious FIABCI award.

"This visit should provide ample opportunities for us to learn and share the success, experiences and practices of each property development visited," she said.

Meanwhile, Wong also presented Shareda's report at the 10th MDC meeting on the Sabah property outlook, especially on newly-launched or on-going mega projects.

She also briefed the council on the Shareda's concern over the new stamp duty rate, which she hoped the Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) would assist in making an appeal to the Federal government.

Also raised was the price of building materials in Sabah, which Wong said Shareda would not relent in pursuing to request for another review of cement prices to a more reasonable and fair as early as possible for the betterment of the industry in Sabah.

Other aspects raised were the high price of river sand in Sandakan and Shareda's call for no blanket ban on hill slope development.

Towards this end, Shareda has also sought assistance from Rehda to appeal to the Federal government to include several measures in the next stimulus package including to grant a RM20,000 incentive to first-time house buyers and allow EPF contributors to withdraw 50 per cent from their EPF savings to purchase a house.